He said the DUP would be “making clear to the government we have a confidence and supply arrangement with them”. The arrangement is predicated on a £1bn-plus aid package the DUP extracted from the Tories after the June election. Coveney reiterated that Ireland was willing to block progress of Brexit talks if a form of words offering regulatory convergence was not forthcoming. The row comes as parliament’s Brexit committee highlighted the challenge of resolving the Irish border problem in a new report on the state of the negotiations. The former first minister, now a Conservative peer, called on the prime minister to “quash this idea very quickly” as it would start to alarm the unionist electorate in Northern Ireland.

Source: The Guardian November 30, 2017 17:40 UTC